


Please hold on and soon you'll see, that I am not the villain I appear to be

by BubblegumLeather



Category: Mystery Skulls Animated
Genre: Because Heather has a sailor mouth, Consensual Possession, Demons, Explicit Language, Gen, Major Original Character(s), Not Beta Read, Post-Canon, Sharing a Body, So Lewis is back with the gang and they're back in the mystery business
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-06
Updated: 2018-11-06
Packaged: 2019-08-19 13:23:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,679
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16535366
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BubblegumLeather/pseuds/BubblegumLeather
Summary: While during a routine job for a spirit that had been causing trouble in an abandoned mansion set to be renovated, Arthur Kingsmen encounters a strange item within the mansion. It is through this object that leads to him meeting an aggressive but not exactly malicious entity that needs his help. Whether or not he will regret doing so will remain to be seen...





	Please hold on and soon you'll see, that I am not the villain I appear to be

**Author's Note:**

> The title comes from the song "The Villain I Appear to Be" by Connor Spiotto and Molly Pease, which was made for the Diamond Jack animation for a better idea.
> 
> So... this fic is admittedly self-indulgent with my main MSA OC, Heather, but I swear the Mystery Skulls fandom has made me more inspired to write fanfiction then any other fandom has ever before. This was only meant to be short and then it became 6 pages long and I STILL have ideas with this characters, so I may write more featuring Heather in the future.
> 
> Regardless, hope you all enjoy this! Constructive criticism is welcome, and if like it, please don't be afraid to leave a comment!

On the surface, it looked like a perfectly normal choker, if not something that looked like what you find while digging through your stuff from when you were going through a goth phase. It was a simple thick black band with a red gemstone dangling from it that was a thin diamond shape. Yet if Arthur stared at it for too long he felt a subtle pull that drew him towards it, as if it were desperately wanting him to put it on. And if the fact that a supposedly inanimate piece of jewelry was somehow calling to him to wear it didn’t set off enough alarm bells in his head, it was the fact Arthur found it while him, Vivi, Lewis, and Mystery were investigating an abandoned house. 

Something about this rich lady who wanted to renovate the decrepit house but increasing reports from workers of strange events happening forced the project to be put on pause. Things like tools going missing, unexplainable noises, and even one occasion where a worker suddenly became extremely aggressive to the point they ran everyone out of the house before suddenly returning to normal with no memory of it. She had called the Mystery Skulls in to investigate and perhaps remove whatever is scaring the workers away, offering them a surprisingly high amount of money for their services.

Things started normally enough (though very few things in his life were normal nowadays). The sheer size of the house and Mystery not sensing anything that would be a severe threat led to them all splitting up, with Lewis and Vivi searching the upstairs floor and Arthur and Mystery checking the lower levels of the house. While the idea of splitting up the group never ceased to make him wary, it was their best bet if they didn’t want to be searching this borderline mansion until the early hours of the morning for a possible spirit. It was through this led to Arthur finding what looked to have once been a bedroom, if the weathered vanity, ancient wardrobe closet, and abandoned bed frame told him anything.

The choker didn’t stand out to Arthur immediately as he used his flashlight to look around the bedroom, uneasiness trickling down his spine like cold water. It was only when the focused beam of light caught a flash of red did he find it on the vanity, looking practically brand new compared to everything else in the house being worn down by time. Which led to where the mechanic was now, unable to tear his amber eyes from the choker and finding himself slowly inching closer to the forgotten piece of jewelry. 

He could feel panic building up in the back of his mind, screaming at him to not touch the obviously supernatural object and get Vivi or Lewis to look at it. Yet Arthur’s body felt completely at ease as it placed the flashlight to the wayside to take the choker with both of his mismatched hands. It almost felt completely natural as he slipped the band around his neck and the red jewel pendant gently bounced against his collarbone. After that, whatever had a hold on Arthur’s mind immediately vanished, leaving him woozy and he gripped the vanity to retain balance. Without thinking he lifted his head to look at himself in the dusty and slightly cracked mirror…

_ That was not his reflection. _

What stared back at him was obviously nothing human, the shiny black horns that grew from its hairline and dark red eyes an obvious tell. The next thing to register was that it appeared to be actually a young woman (perhaps?) not too older than Arthur, with exaggeratedly long eyelashes, pointed ears, and a black beauty mark that stood out on her pale pink skin. Her hair, skin, and eyes were all varying shades of magenta pink and raspberry, her clothes reminded Arthur of a school uniform. 

Around her neck was a choker the same as the one around his.

Arthur snapped out of his frozen state of shock when his (or her?) reflection impatiently cleared her throat to get his attention. She… looked annoyed? He wasn’t even sure if that was better then her smirking at him evilly. All he knew was that he couldn’t move, like as if his feet were glued to the floor, and he could feel the anxiety growing once it hit him the situation he was in.

**“Hey buddy, just relax will ya? You look like you’re about to have a panic attack.”** Her voice had a strange reverb to it, like a deeper version of it was speaking side-by-side, but sounded relatively normal with a noticeable accent, sounded almost Jersey. His jaw immediately snapped shut, quickly cutting off the scream about to escape his throat. The silence was nearly deafening in its awkwardness as they merely stared at each other, both of them waiting for the other to speak. Eventually, she was the one to break the silence with an agitated sigh, her lips in a pout that would almost look chuckle-worthy if Arthur weren’t fearing for his life.

**“Look, first things first, I ain’t gonna hurt you. I ain’t about that shit anymore, I promise. But… I need your help if you’re willing to give it to me. I’ll leave you alone otherwise.”**

Wait what?

“Wait what?” His words came out as a surprised squeak, not exactly expecting the kind of scary demon lady to (sort of) ask for his help rather than just steal his body and be done with it. Turns out demons are capable of common courtesy, you learn something new every day it seems. “Need my help with… what exactly? You need my body as some sort of vessel for your evil plans?” His voice was somehow both sarcastic and confused, a combination which caused her to huff out a begrudging laugh. 

**“Nah, nothing like that. All I want is to just get outta this damn house, see? I’ve been trapped down here for… wait what year is it?”** She looked taken aback by that realization, the fact that she had already lost track of time and could have been down here for longer then she thought.

“Uhm… 2018?” Arthur could feel sweat beginning to gather on his brow, secretly hoping the others would notice he’s been gone for a while and start looking for him. 

**“Are you fucking kidding me?”** A shake of his head was the only thing to answer her.  **“I’VE BEEN DOWN HERE FOR 5 YEARS! Can you imagine that, blondie?! 5 years, without anyone to talk to! 5 years, left with nothing but you and your damn thoughts! Thoughts of… the fact that on some level you deserve this. Thoughts of the fact that someone you thought was your** **_best friend_ ** **who left you here to rot. And the thoughts that you’re too much a damn coward to move on because you’re scared of what’s beyond, so you’re left clinging here. To a corpse of a house that you once held dear that you don’t want anyone else to touch because if people start living here… they’ll find me and force me out…”** What was once a fiery voice raised in fury tempered down to a small, whimpering ember, her whole body curling in on itself as if she wasn’t aware Arthur was there anymore.

Common sense be damned, he could feel his heartache for her.  _ God _ could he sympathize with that. The empathy overwhelming his heart would certainly explain what he did next, rational thought certainly wouldn’t.

“Look… I’ll help you. My name is Arthur by the way, not blondie. What do you need me to do?” That snapped her out of her miniature existential crisis or at least helped her remember that there was someone with her. Technicolor tears still lined her eyes but she didn’t look like she was going to fold in on herself again, at least not while Arthur was watching.

**“I… can’t remember my full name, but I think my name is Heather. But it’s pretty simple really, all you gotta do is let me inside you!”** Heather didn’t seem to fully get what she said until Arthur raised a suspicious eyebrow at her wording.  **“Not like that, getcha mind out of the gutter! What I** **_mean_ ** **is… well, you see that choker you and I are both wearin’? That’s the big thing keeping me here instead of… wherever the hell demons go, I don’t fucking know! So, that’ll let my spirit bod hide inside your bod without even any possession involved. You just gotta smuggle me past the barrier holding me inside this house and we’re both home free! Sounds easy enough, am I right, Artiekins?”**

“If I’m letting you inside my body, you are to never call me by that nickname ever again.” A chortle ripped from Heather’s lips at the complete deadpan tone he gave her and her demeanor was slowly brightening up. A smile tugged at the corner’s of his lips at her puffed out cheeks as she struggled and failed to hold her guffaw in, finding it kind of cute. Arthur took a deep breath before continuing onwards. It’ll be like pulling off a band-aid, just get it over with and be done with it. “Just… make it quick will you, I didn’t come alone and my friends are probably starting to get worried.”

**“Gotcha, Ginger Snap, no need to tell me twice. Just be sure to keep that choker on you, don’t wanna know what’ll happen otherwise. Now just take my hand,”** Heather said before she cautiously reached a clawed hand out through the mirror, her face visibly flinching as if she expected it to hurt. Arthur took her hand with his own, specifically the right one, and Heather started to float out of the cracked mirror as if she were being pulled out. It was an odd feeling, having Heather jump to settle inside Arthur’s body like he just drank a hot drink followed by ice cold water. Though not necessarily unpleasant, less like an intrusion and more like a welcome friend coming in for a visit. It was done before either of them realized it, the only signs of Heather being the choker that now glowed brighter on his neck and the slight red tint to his eyes.

**“Well, that was easy! It’s kind of comfy in here, though kind of a mess. God do you usually feel this tired, Dandelion?!”** Hearing that same accent come from his own lips wasn’t as much of a shock as he expected, which he wasn’t sure should be concerning on its own or not. Regardless, he shook his legs to get the feeling back in them, silently wondering when this became his life that he’d be comfortable letting demons in his body. 

An insistent nudge to his leg caused Arthur to look down, surprised to see Mystery sitting there with a concerned look on his fluffy face. He did his best to ignore the coo Heather made in his mind at the sight of the dog and give Mystery a reassuring smile, quickly making his way out of the room with Mystery following behind him. Vivi and Lewis were in the main living room, with the former looking rather disappointed and it didn’t take long for Arthur to find out once her blue eyes caught sight of him.

“It’s like the demonic presence I sensed just… vanished! I can’t think of anything that we did that would exorcize it without realizing it and demons don’t just leave suddenly like that. And there’s nothing else here… Arthur, what are you wearing?” Her eyes immediately gravitated to the new accessory resting on the blond’s neck, suspicion becoming heavy on her face.

“Oh, this? Found it while checking out one of the bedrooms and before I knew it, it was on my neck. Suits me, don’t you think?” His attempts at a joke fell flat as concern joined Vivi’s suspicion, Lewis mirroring her feelings though it managed to look terrifying alongside that. He could feel sweat gathering on his brow again, Heather beginning to feel caged and afraid in his head was definitely not helping matters. The anxiety was building up and he could feel it’s mixing with the demon’s fear and agitation and was threatening to quickly boil over and explode.

“Are you sure that’s safe to wear Arthur? I mean at least let me get a look at that thing, could be tainted with demonic energy for all we know,” Vivi explained as she reached for the choker but everything immediately stopped as her hand was caught in an iron grip by Arthur. The young woman was taken by surprise and she could feel the air in her lungs practically freezing when she looked up to him.

His eyes were now raspberry red and looking down at her with anger underlined with fear.

**“The choker ain’t coming off of this neck. We had a deal on I’m making sure Kingsmen sticks with his side of the deal. I don’t want any trouble from either of you.** **_But I want OUT of this damn place._ ** **”** With that, Heather slipped back into the metaphorical backseat of Arthur’s mind without warning, dark red eyes returning to amber and anger vanishing to panic. He quickly released Vivi’s hand and backed away, unable to meet either Vivi or the blazing specter behind her in the eyes now that demonic cat was out of the bag.

“Arthur… what did you do?” Her voice came out as a horrified whisper and Arthur could already tell what was going through her head. He would know. The memories of those horrible, sickly green caves that caused everything to nearly fall apart between them all still haunt him to this day when they had gotten past forgiveness. Those simply weren’t things you could  _ make _ yourself forget, no matter how good life was in the present.

“I know it looks bad! But Heather doesn’t mean any harm, I swear.” It was evident neither Vivi, Lewis, or even Mystery were buying it but they were at least not scrambling for an impromptu exorcism. That was a small positive in Arthur’s book, despite the wave of caution and worry coming from Heather. “I mean, it’d be better to let her leave this place peacefully if I help then force her out and risk things getting violent. Besides, I let her in.”

“He’s right, I’m not sensing any magic influencing his mind,” Mystery said calmly, his words seemingly helping to put the other two at ease along Arthur’s reassurances. A brief smile came to the dog’s face before he focused on the mechanic with a look that made both Heather and him feel like they were being looked at down their very core. “I do not know why you would let this spirit in, but I trust your judgment Arthur, I feel we all should give you the benefit of the doubt. With the spirit safely removed, perhaps we can call it a day.”

_ “Fine. But don’t think this is the end of the conversation, Arthur. But it can’t wait until morning,” _ Lewis spoke with a finality that made Arthur tense but he accepted that for now. As he followed Vivi and Lewis out, he could feel himself stop in front of Mystery and Heather gently prodded for control for a moment. Trusting her, he could feel his perspective rapidly shift as he handed Heather to proverbial wheel and she crouched down to meet the dog eye-to-eye. Mystery certainly didn’t expect to be pulled into a grateful hug, fingers scratching the fur behind his ears.

**“Thanks for the good word, little guy. I promise to be good on your word, I swear on it.”** While the dog still held a smile on his face, there was a stern look in his eyes that promised  _ severe _ consequences if the demon so much as made Arthur unhappy.

“I certainly hope you do, Heather. More for the good of yourself than anyone else.”


End file.
